Bluetit Diary May 2020 (16)

Thursday 21st May, 2020

I don't quite know how he manages it, but so far Scrap has still managed to
hold on!

Scrap spend most of his time being sat or stood on by the other chicks in
the box. Here he is nowhere to be seen.

Now you can see him in the bottom right corner of the picture.

It is still only half past nine in the morning. Again, you can see
him keeping a low profile when all of his siblings seem to be busy preening
themselves.

It's now about a quarter past ten. When I examined the video of
which this is a still I could see from the slight movements of his body that
he was still breathing

By midday, he had moved (or had been moved) a small distance in the nest
cup.

This picture was taken at around 2.30pm and is one of the last pictures
of him. All the other chicks watch the entrance to the box intently as
that is where their food comes from!

All the other 6 chicks seem lively and ready to go.

It's 3.20pm and I think it unlikely that any of the chicks will fly
today. I have always estimated they would not fledge before Saturday,
but they are all so lively with a pretty full set of feathers, some of them
may go tomorrow.

At the top left of this picture is Chris who has just brought another
piece of food for the chicks.

It is now 4.30pm. Things are calming down now as it is nearing the
end of the chicks' day. There is no sign of Scrap and I can only
assume he has died and been buried in the detritus at the bottom of the nest
cup.

6.30pm The chicks are now all looking sleepy. They only perk
up when a parent comes with food!

8.30pm The parents have stopped feeding the chicks and they are now
all asleep or half asleep.